nearly the same moment, of the two most original writers which modern Europe has produced.

On the second day after his decease the remains of Shakspeare were committed to the grave, within the chancel of the parish church; where a flat stone and monument were afterwards placed to point out the spot, and commemorate his likeness, name, and memory. In what year the monument was erected is not known, but certainly before 1623, as it is mentioned in the verses of Leonard Digges in that year. He is represented under an arch, in a sitting posture, a cushion spread before him, with a pen in his right hand, and his left rested on a scroll of paper. The following distich is engraved under the cushion :—

Judicio Pylivm, genio Socratem, arte Maronem,
Terra tegit, popvlvs mœret, Olympvs habet.

In addition to this Latin inscription, the following lines are found on a tablet immediately underneath the cushion on his monument :

Stay, passenger, why goest thov by so fast?

Read, if thov canst, whom enviovs death hath plast
Within this monvment, Shakspeare; with whome
Quick natvre dide; whose name doth deck ys tombe
Far more than coste, sieth all yt. he hath writt,
Leaves living art bvt page to serve his witt.

Obiit Ano. Doi. 1616. ætatis 53. die 23 Ap.

On his grave-stone underneath is the following

SHAK.

I.

d

inscription, expressed, as Mr. Steevens observes, in an uncouth mixture of small and capital letters :

Good Frend for Iesus SAKE forbeare

To diGG T-E Dust EncloAsed HERe

Blese be T-E Man

And curst be He

T

Y

spares T-ES Stones

moves my Bones.

It is uncertain whether this epitaph was written by Shakspeare himself, or by one of his friends after his death. The imprecation contained in the last line was probably suggested,' as Mr. Malone has remarked,' by an apprehension that his remains might share the same fate with those of the rest of his countrymen, and be added to the immense pile of human bones deposited in the charnel-house at Stratford.'

In the year 1741, another very noble and beautiful monument was raised to his memory, at the public expense, in Westminster Abbey, under the direction of the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Mead, Mr. Pope, and Mr. Martyn. It stands near the south door of the Abbey, and was the work of Scheemaker, after a design of Kent. The performers of each of the London theatres gave a benefit to defray the expenses, and the dean and chapter took nothing for the ground.

We have now recorded the substance of the scanty notices respecting the life of Shakspeare,